


discovery

by andamiro (arysthaeniru)



Category: Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: F/F, so confused, why is tomoka spelled tomoya in the relationship tags?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 17:09:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3257783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arysthaeniru/pseuds/andamiro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sakuno's really not sure what happened, but she really needs to find Tomo-chan...</p>
            </blockquote>





	discovery

Sakuno hummed idly, as she twirled her braid idly and walked back to her classroom. Her maths test had been sort of difficult, but she thought she might have gotten an average score on it, nevertheless. She’d ask Tomo-chan what Tomo-chan thought of the test, Tomo-chan was generally better at maths than Sakuno was. She was rounding on Tomo and Ryoma-kun’s homeroom, when the sound of a commotion and lots of shouting seemed to be coming from inside. 

"What’s it matter to you, huh?" came Ryoma-kun’s voice, louder than Sakuno had ever heard him speak outside of tennis and she hurried up to the door, only to be shoved aside by a fuming and loudly crying Tomo-chan, running away from the room.

"T-T-Tomo-chan!" called Sakuno, unsure of what had just happened. She didn’t run after Tomo-chan for now, turning back inside the classroom. Horio-kun and Ryoma-kun seemed to be standing against the vast majority of the class and Sakuno gulped a little. What had just happened?

"Wha-what happened?" she asked the class, feeling the tension between everybody roll over her in waves. Her hands fisted down in her skirt and curled, tightly, as she forced herself to stay calm and not run after Tomo-chan without knowing what had happened. 

Ryoma-kun just shook his head, looking vaguely scornful and just a little incredulous. “Our classmates are judgmental pricks, that’s what. Come on, Ryuzaki, let’s go.”

"Yeah." said Horio, giving them glares. "You hear that? You’re all jerks! Leave her alone next time, yeah?" he blustered as he followed them, but in that moment, Sakuno could only manage a smile for him, instead of her usual worried glances. 

The three of them left the classroom, without a word more being spoken, until Sakuno picked up the courage to speak again, away from the baleful glares of most of the class. “What happened, Ryoma-kun? Tomo-chan looked really upset.”

"They called her gay!" burst out Horio, looking horrified. "They’re so mean! What made them think that, anyway? And then they ganged up on her, but of course, Echizen and I swooped in, because that’s not fair at all!"

"She is gay. Or lesbian, whatever," said Ryoma-kun, with a shrug, as they rounded the corridor, past a couple of people that turned to look at their conversation, with quiet whispers. Sakuno blushed at their looks and turned back to Ryoma-kun. "But that’s not the point, is it? It’s hardly a bad thing. The way they were treating her like she was scum at the prospect she could be lesbian was what’s disgusting."

Tomo-chan was a lesbian? When had that happened? Why had she told Ryoma-kun before she’d told Sakuno? It was a little hurtful, but Sakuno had to swallow her emotions here, to be there for Tomo-chan. “So then, she got mad? Or she started crying first?”

"She got mad first. She even tried to punch one of them in the face. I stopped any physical violence." said Horio, with a smug smirk, as prodded his chest with his thumb. Sakuno just nodded, blandly, and turned to Ryoma-kun, with a slightly distressed expression. 

"I’m going to go find her, okay? She always makes herself get worse when she gets angry and sad together. Will you please look for her as well, Ryoma-kun? And you have my phone number, right? Text me if you find her first?" she asked, with a concerned tone to her voice, her legs shaking a little, eager to get away and go find Tomo and hold her best friend close until she felt better. 

Ryoma casually shrugged, but Sakuno knew that was a yes, from the reticent teen. “Thank you, thank you! I’ll make you a bento or something next time, I’m really sorry, I’m going to go and get her.” she stammered, as she almost tripped over herself running away in the opposite direction, as she headed to the girl’s bathroom. 

First place to check was the bathroom, but as Sakuno had sort of expected, Tomo was more creative than that, and bursting into there while sprinting had just gained her some seriously weirded-out looks from the upperclassman who were applying their makeup. Still, Sakuno just darted out with a muttered apology as she ran towards the cooking room instead, and then the art room, and finally, the sewing room. Nothing. Sakuno paused outside a random classroom, and gasped, raggedly. She had been running everywhere. Had Ryoma-kun found Tomo now, then? 

She checked her phone, carefully, careful to not let any of the passing students see her take it out. Technically phones were allowed at lunches, but Sakuno didn’t use hers in school on principle, something that her grandmother had always drilled into her. Rules were things always meant to be behaved. Sakuno usually behaved and conformed to most rules of society, even if she didn’t really like them. She’d never thought it was worth fighting against things, not unless they really really mattered to her. Of course, that had never been something that Tomo had ever been able to bring herself to do. Even unconsciously, it seemed. 

Her phone was void of any messages and Sakuno groaned as she tilted her head back and slid down the wall, until she was half-crouching, half-sitting by the cool wall. This was hopeless. As her breath slowed a little, she frowned, at the faint sound of laboured breathing from somewhere nearby. Sakuno straightened, cautiously and looked around, quickly, before pushing into the unknown classroom. It was stacked up and looked mostly abandoned, but the sound of hiccuped breaths was louder in here. 

"T-Tomo-chan?" she asked, as she shut the door behind her and edged forward. 

The sounds stopped and there was a slight hiccup. “Go away, Sakuno-chan.” she choked out, but that only furthered Sakuno’s resolve to be there for Tomo. Sakuno edged forward, to where Tomo was curled up, underneath the cove in the teacher’s desk and got down onto her own knees, ignoring the slight carpet burn from edging forward like this. 

"I’m not going to go away, Tomo-chan. Ryoma-kun told me everything." said Sakuno, quietly. "I’m still here for you, you know, no matter what. I don’t care. I still love you."

Tomo laughed, a little hysterically. “You don’t care?” she scoffed, as she straightened up, her cheeks streaked with teartracks and her wide eyes red. “Well the problem here, is that I love you more.”

Oh. Tomo liked Sakuno like that. Well, that was just revelation after revelation. Sakuno rocked back on her knees and frowned, a little. Tomo just snorted and leant back. “Thought so.” she said, wearily. “He didn’t tell you everything, useless jerk…”

Sakuno bit her lip and looked down at the carpet. “Why did you trust Ryoma-kun with stuff like this, but you couldn’t even tell me, Tomo-chan?’ she asked, with a slightly despairing look upwards, to Tomo-chan’s pale face. “Are we not friends?”

For a moment, her best friend looked arrested, her eyes widening. Then she tilted her head back, and laughed, with more than a little hysteria touching her tone. “Sakuno-chan, you couldn’t bring yourself to ever tell Ryoma-kun that you liked him, not once. How the hell was I supposed to just tell you ‘oh hey, I like girls and by the way, you’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen?’ That was going to go across great, wasn’t it?”

Sakuno bit her lip. “Well, you’re not exactly giving me a chance to say yes, are you?” she replied, quietly, feeling a little annoyed, as she scooted forward to reach for Tomo’s hands. “That’s what I always liked about you, Tomo, you rarely assumed stuff. Why would you assume about something complicated like this?”

Tomo spluttered a little as she stared at Sakuno, with a little confusion. Sakuno was a little confused herself. She couldn’t really say that she’d ever really looked at Tomo like she’d looked at Ryoma-kun, but she was comfortable with Tomo and always had been. That had to count for something, right? Besides, Tomo-chan was important to Sakuno,a nd she couldn’t just let Tomo-chan wallow like this, hiding under a classroom table, because she was convinced that everything had gone wrong. 

"You like me?" asked Tomo, her breath faint. "But you liked Ryoma-sama…."

"I don’t know whether I like you or not." Sakuno replied, one hand coming up to play with her braid, tugging through the strand loose at the end. "But I want to try? If you want to?" she asked, with a soft smile. 

"…you’re not worried about the rest of the class? They hate me now." Tomo said, softly, as she sniffed and brushed away the tear-tracks. 

Sakuno’s face tugged into a wry smile. “Tomo-chan, when have you ever cared about that, huh? If they say anything, you can just smash them with your hammer of justice. Or you know, you can get Ryoma-kun and Horio-kun to hit them for you.”

Tomo laughed, hesitantly, and it was the closest thing that Sakuno had heard to Tomo-chan’s bright laugh so far. That was a start. “I don’t want to force you into anything, Sakuno…” said Tomo, as she wiped her face with her sleeve. 

"I’m capable of making my own decisions, Tomo-chan." chided Sakuno, gently. "I want to try it out, and if it doesn’t work out, we can still be friends, right? We’re sensible enough to do that, right?" She hoped they were. She thought that they were. They’d never really fought over anything, because they were always willing to talk it out, or one of them was willing to submit to the other’s decision. That had to continue now, right?

"We can still be friends." said Tomo, holding out her pinky finger. Sakuno accepted it, and they smiled at each other, hesitantly from underneath the teacher’s desk. There. Sakuno finally leant forward and pulled the crouching Tomo into a long hug, resting her head against the crook of Tomo’s shoulder, rubbing Tomo’s back, gently. Tomo started crying again, softly and just a little incredulously. Sakuno’s eyelashes fluttered shut and they held each other tightly, until the last of the tears stopped.


End file.
